Broomedesliga Round Nine: The Road to the Final

A place in the Broome Soccer Association Broomedesliga Grand Final was on the line on Wednesday night as Racing Guantanamo met the Travelling Royals in the semi-finals of the competition.

The Royals had reached the match on the back of a great regular season campaign, losing only once, ironically to Guantanamo.

The match began with a cagey start, both sides concentrating on the defensive aspects of their game and neither wanting to give away an early goal.

With both teams worried about going down early, chances were few and far between as stubborn defences on both sides broke down any attacks coming through.

The Royals’ Ken Goatley was particularly impressive at the back, portraying a sense of calm to soak up pressure from Guantanamo’s Raiko Kiudmaa, who was kept relatively quiet by the stalwart Royals defender.

Before the end of the first half however, the Royals struck with a great counter-attack to put Guantanamo on the back foot.

If the first half was relatively even, the second half couldn’t have been more different, with Guantanamo looking nervous and making schoolboy errors that resulted in some cheap goals against them.

The Royals were starting to get into the scoring mood, and pressed higher up the park to force Guantanamo into their own half more often than not.

Jon Gallichan worked hard in the Royals’ midfield to pressure the Guantanamo defence, and netted a hattrick to aid his team in their quest for the final.

With the final score of 6-1, the Travelling Royals claimed their place in the Grand Final against UN Barbarians next week, while Guantanamo take pride in knowing they went farther in the competition than any other time in their history.

In the other match of the round, last year’s champions Sanga managed to avoid the embarrassment of the wooden spoon by dispatching Jimnies FC.

Sanga had to wait until penalties though to see off their plucky rivals as both teams took part in a very spirited match which could have gone either way.

Jimnies will now take on Cardiff City next week in a curtain-raiser to the Grand Final to see who will pick up the dubious title of 2010 Wooden Spooners.